Allahabad and around

The administrative and industrial city of ALLAHABAD, 135km west of Varanasi and 227km southeast of Lucknow, is also known as Prayag (“confluence”): the point where the Yamuna and Ganges rivers meet the mythical Saraswati River. Sacred to Hindus, the sangam (which also means “confluence”), east of the city, is one of the great pilgrimage destinations of India. Allahabad comes alive during its melas (fairs) – the annual Magh Mela (Jan/Feb), and the colossal Maha Kumbh Mela, held every twelve years (2025 and 2037 are the next ones).

Allahabad is a pleasant city to visit, with vast open riverside scenery and good amenities, but is without major temples or monuments. At the junction of the fertile Doab, the “two-river” valley between the Yamuna and the Ganges, it did however possess a crucial strategic significance; its massive fort, built by the emperor Akbar in 1583, is still used by the military. Another Mughal, Jahangir’s son Khusrau, was murdered here by his brother Shah Jahan, who went on to become emperor. Allahabad was briefly the centre of power after the 1857 uprising, when the British moved the headquarters of their Northwestern Provinces here from Agra; the formal transfer of power from the East India Company to the Crown took place here the following year.

Central Allahabad is split in two by the railway line, with the chaotic and congested Old City or Chowk south of Allahabad Junction station, and the grid of the Civil Lines (the residential quarter of the Raj military town) to the north.

Allahabad also makes a good base from which to venture into the remoter parts of Bundelkhand to the south.

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Kalinjar

About 88km southwest of Chitrakut, the abandoned star-shaped fortress of KALINJAR looks down on the Gangetic valley from the final escarpments of the craggy Vindhya hills, above the town of the same name. Much of the fort has been reclaimed by dry shrubby forest, populated by monkeys; once-grand avenues are now rocky footpaths that wind through the few crumbling yet ornately carved buildings that remain. Kalinjar has no tourist facilities to speak of – most of those who do come are either on day-trips from Chitrakut or Allahabad, or stay in Banda, which is on major train and bus routes and is connected to Kalinjar by local buses.

Steep steps lead straight up for 3km from Kalinjar village to the fort’s main gate, Alam Darwaza, but the southern Panna Gate has rock carvings depicting seven deer (like the fort’s seven gates, these represent the then-known planets). Beneath Bara Darwaza, the “Large Gate”, in the artificial cave of Sita Sej, a stone couch dating from the fourth century holds some of Kalinjar’s earliest inscriptions. The fort’s colossal rambling battlements provide sweeping views of the Gangetic plain and the Vindhya hills.

Bundelkhand

The harshness of the terrain in the Bundelkhand region, south of Lucknow along the Madhya Pradesh border, and the all but unbearable heat in the summer, make it the most difficult, if intriguing, part of the state to control, and even today, its labyrinthine hills and valleys are home to infamous bands of outlaw dacoits. Many of these have become folk-heroes among local villagers, who shelter them from the almost equally brutal police force. The most celebrated in recent years was Phoolan Devi, the “Bandit Queen”, from a village near Behmai who was kidnapped by a dacoit gang, became the leader’s lover, and took over from him after he was killed. She eventually surrendered to the police, was released in 1994, and even became an MP for the socialist Samajwadi Party before being assassinated in 2001.

The fort

East of Saraswati Ghat, Akbar’s fort is best appreciated from boats on the river. Much of it is still occupied by the military, and public access is restricted to the leafy corner around the Patalpuri Temple, approached through any of the three massive gates. Much of the superstructure is neglected; the zenana with its columned hall does survive, but can only be viewed with prior permission. At the main gate, a poorly restored polished stone Ashoka Pillar is inscribed with the emperor’s edicts and dated to 242 BC.

Hanuman Temple

Where the fort’s eastern battlements meet the river, a muddy ghat is busy with boatmen jostling for custom from pilgrims heading to the sangam. Inland along the base of the fort, with the flood plain of the sangam to the right, a road leads past rows of stalls catering to pilgrims visiting the brightly painted Hanuman Temple. Unusually, the large sunken image of the monkey god inside is reclining rather than standing erect; during the annual floods the waters rise to touch his feet before once again receding.

The Kumbh Mela

Hindus traditionally regard river confluences (sangams) as auspicious places, and none more so than the one at Allahabad, where the Yamuna and Ganges rivers meet the River of Enlightenment, the mythical subterranean Saraswati. According to legend, Vishnu was carrying a kumbha (pot) of amrita (nectar), when a scuffle broke out between the gods, and four drops were spilled. They fell to earth at the four tirthas of Prayag, Haridwar, Nasik and Ujjain. The event is commemorated every three years by the Kumbh Mela, held at each tirtha in turn; the Allahabad sangam is known as Tirtharaja, the “King of tirthas”, and its mela, the Maha Kumbh Mela or “Great” Kumbh Mela, is the greatest and holiest of all.

The largest religious fair in India, Maha Kumbh Mela was attended by an astonishing seventeen million pilgrims in 2001, and even more in 2013. The vast flood plains and riverbanks adjacent to the confluence were overrun by tents, organized in almost military fashion by the government, the local authorities and the police. The mela is especially renowned for the presence of an extraordinary array of religious ascetics – sadhus and mahants – enticed from remote hideaways in forests, mountains and caves. Once astrologers have determined the propitious bathing time or kumbhayog, the first to hit the water are legions of Naga Sadhus or Naga Babas, who cover their naked bodies with ash and wear their hair in dreadlocks. The sadhus, who see themselves as guardians of the faith, approach the confluence at the appointed time with all the pomp and bravado of a charging army.

Although the Kumbh Mela is only triennial, and not always in Allahabad, there is a smaller annual bathing festival, the Magh Mela, held here every year in the month of Magha (Jan–Feb).